There was a little girl
by Carmabaeji - Lively Aria
Summary: The story of three people who never meet, and the one person who keeps it that way. Pre24, Spoilers until minimum of 11pm


There once was a girl... By Aria  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story, nor am I in any way affiliated with Fox and 24, the show seriously rocks though. I own a few of the minor characters I have introduced into this fiction, and if you are suddenly inspired to use one of them in your fics, you're welcome to them, with only one request, I want to read it, not as in proof read it, just to see what you wrote. Spoilers: The entire California Presidential Primary. There's only one thing you really need to know to read my fics - I think Nina's the most interesting character on '24'. Rating: PG-13 will probably get higher for violence and maybe a little sex. Synopsis: Years before 24, we learn the story of William Jaffrey, George Mason and Pierre DeVry and the woman that connects them.  
  
July 13th, 2002. - 09:43:52  
  
William slid the spatula under the rashers of bacon, collecting them on the chrome implement before he flipped them over. It was Saturday morning, and he was cooking breakfast for himself and his girlfriend. He couldn't cook the meal fast enough. He was making a full breakfast, fried meat, as artery clogging as possible. After their work out last night they deserved it.  
  
The bacon was almost cooked, but at the other end of the kitchen the kettle whirred into inaction, having boiled the water inside. The water would remain hot enough for him to leave it for a minute, until the bacon turned reddy-brown. Next to him, on a tea tray sat a large plate, it already held two portions of eggs, one scrambled, the other fried, four sausages and some toasted bread, saturated in fat. There were two teacups, piled on top of each other, and a teapot, ready to be filled with coffee or tea, what ever caught his interest when he ventured over to the kettle.  
  
William's surname was Jaffrey, a name he'd inherited from his father, and he from his father before him. His family line was originally from India, but over many generations his colour had diluted, the deep pigment of his great-grandfather now only a random fluke in his family line. He was paler, as was his brother, only tanning in extreme sun, where as his sister, Lucy, had deeply dark colouring. It was hard to tell they were related.  
  
Jaffreys had a tendency to work to much, aforementioned Lucy was one of those hotshot Hollywood casting directors, the kind you saw yelling into their cell phones at restaurants, expensive restaurants, but no one would dare ask them to be quiet. Young actors and actresses would give up their children to get a chance at starring in one of her movies, because if she ever made a bad one, nobody could tell.  
  
William was a lawyer, Harvard and Yale, the two prestigious colleges; he'd been to both. Graduated high school as valedictorian, not so good at law school, but a high ranking nonetheless. He'd soon made a name for himself, clerking for Supreme Court justices, he was a congressional aide for a few years, and then he'd moved to New York to be a lawyer for the DA. It was nice to finally be making money doing his job.  
  
Nina Myers worked far too much, it was one of the many reasons William thought she'd fit perfectly into the Jaffrey family, it was also one of the reasons he thought she wouldn't want to.  
  
It wasn't final yet, his decision. He'd first thought of it last night, taking a much-needed respite from the claps on the back and endless only- vaguely-comedic jokes. He'd been slouching at the bar, waiting for his glass of bourbon when Andrew Gallaway, the only senior partner that William liked, came up behind him, taking a seat at the bar stool behind him.  
  
Gallaway was a traditional father figure, which is why he could easily get away with the way he spoke. "Turn around, son, you're probably getting a bruise from where everyone's been patting you on the back, and I don't wanna add to it."  
  
"Sir?" despite the close relationship they held, William wouldn't dare call him anything but 'sir' or 'Mr Gallaway'.  
  
"Well, you're one of the big boys now." Gallaway said in his thick New England accent. "You're making more money, which means you get more cases - I won't stand for you slacking off."  
  
"No, sir." William answered, he rotated his stool so he was facing Andrew Gallaway at the same time as able to view the earlier object of his attention. Nina, she stood across the room, where junior partners were accosting her on all sides. Each was telling her a joke, in their own turn. She was managing to deflect their hands and comments, smiling happily at them - being polite.  
  
"I mean it, I've seen so many good lawyers start off as..." Gallaway nursed his drink. "You even listening to me?" Gallaway interrupted looking across the room. He directed his vision across the room, taking in the people, talking, smoozing.  
  
"Sorry, uh, my girlfriend..." William started to explain, considered pointing her out before the older man interrupted.  
  
"She the little brunette?" He asked, taking his drink off the counter and taking a sip.  
  
William smiled, his girlfriend was one of the prettiest woman in the room, sure there were plenty younger, many more expensive, either in surgery or agency pricing, but she was the only one that caught his eye. She looked wonderful tonight. She wore a black dress, it wrapped around her and tied at the waist, draping low around her neck, stopping just below her breasts, showing off her collar bone and chest. She wore a necklace that William had bought her, a thin strip of gold with a tiny gold ball in the centre, she regularly wore it to work and out with him, and she was wearing it now, in front of all his colleagues, a silent reminder to him that she was his.  
  
For the moment anyway. "Yeah." He muttered.  
  
"What's her name?" Gallaway queried.  
  
"Nina." William said, scratching his ear. The ice in his bourbon was beginning to melt, so he took a quick drink of it, collecting a mouthful of mostly water, he flinched at the taste, but knew it meant that his next mouthful would be nicer, completely bourbon. "Nina Myers."  
  
Across the room she ran her fingers through her hair, gathering the hair at her forehead in her fingers and raising it a little, scratching the skin underneath before she tossed it down again, the soft tresses falling back down onto her shoulders and down her dress.  
  
William had a thing for hair. He never dated a woman with short hair; he loved it long, fanning out across his pillow, sliding in between his fingers. Nina's hair rested just below her shoulders, she had the shortest hair of all of his girlfriends, ever, but he loved the way it felt, and he'd been drawn to her regardless of those few extra inches.  
  
"How long you known her?" Gallaway wondered, realising that now wasn't going to be his chance to impart any business advice onto his protégé. The only suggestion he could make right now was one that actually counted.  
  
"Three months." William replied. "She gave a lecture to one of my brother's classes, and we took her out to dinner, and it started there, I've been seeing her ever since." She was drinking a glass of red wine, taking occasional, but deep sips, not drinking enough to show she was in need of being rescued yet.  
  
"She's a lecturer, then?"  
  
"Federal agent, works on general assignment." William told him, and then remembering his confusion when Nina had first told him that he explained further. "She gets called out by the FBI, the military, ATF, you name it, when they need some help with a mission, the logistical side, they call her. She only does lectures every now and then, psychology, politics and defense."  
  
"She's smart then." Gallaway commented, looking at the woman across the room. She was pretty - differently so to his wife at the same age. But it sounded like she was just as smart.  
  
"Yeah." William let out a soft whistle and took a much nicer sip of his bourbon, without the layer of water it was palatable, he liked the taste.  
  
"How old is she?" He knew William was thirty-two, he remembered that from his personnel file, back from when Gallaway had interviewed him. He had no idea about the age of women nowadays, unless they were close to the ages of his children. The only thing he could tell about this woman, Nina, was that she was older than his eldest daughter, Kathryn.  
  
"Twenty-eight in May. I bought her the necklace she's wearing." William boasted.  
  
"I can't see it from here." Gallaway told him, a smile forming on his face. He'd wipe it as soon as William looked at him, but for the moment, he was beaming happily at the younger man.  
  
"It's a tiny thing, delicate - it looks wonderful on her." William glanced over at his colleague, observing a blank face. He noticed another senior partner making his way over to them, one of the younger ones, one of the more obnoxious ones.  
  
Gallaway spoke again, quickly before the next man made his way over, and in a way only he could. "You in love with her? You got good intentions for her?"  
  
"Good intentions? Sir, I..."  
  
William was far too smart to play stupid. Even if he hadn't understood the phrasing the new partner knew what he meant, but Andrew took the time to spell it for him anyway. "You going to marry her?"  
  
William squinted, looking out at his beautiful girlfriend. He seemed to be considering it for a minute, as though Andrew Gallaway was asking him to go out there and propose to her right this instant. "Yeah."  
  
Gallaway laughed at how easy it was to influence this young man, he wondered if he'd end up attending his wedding one-day, if he'd get invited to dinners at the Jaffrey family home. Little brown haired children running around and playing with a dog, like his wife and he had done when he was younger. He'd always wanted to influence another young lawyer in the way that Simon Bextor had done for him when he was 'just' seeing his wife. A few words that made everything seem suddenly so clear.  
  
That prat, Harry Markham was rapidly approaching, now within earshot, extending a hand to summon the bartender before he interrupted their conversation. "Gallaway - we haven't worked together since the Harriman case - why is that?"  
  
It's because you're a pompous jackass, who wouldn't know a case from a suitcase, even if I'd rammed it up your own arse first. "Don't know, Harry." Gallaway wanted to get the man away from him, but even more away from William, didn't want him infected by his idiocy.  
  
"Jaffrey, I've got to steal Gallaway for a minute, good work on the promotion." Markham placed a hand on Andrew's shoulder. In the interest of presenting a nice face, Gallaway stood, effectively removing the hand and consenting to leave with him.  
  
"Three months, huh, Will?" Gallaway questioned him, the man had been momentarily distracted by the conversation going on around him, and was now transfixed, once again on his girlfriend. "Long time, for a young guy."  
  
"No, it's nowhere near long enough."  
  
Gallaway drunk his remaining scotch like a shot, and put the glass back down on the bar with an abrupt slam. "Congratulations on the promotion, son."  
  
"Thanks." Will muttered, he watched Nina across the room for another few minutes, catching her eye occasionally, before he summoned the bartender. He requested another glass of Spanish Shiraz and braved the fold of chatty conversationalists. He passed Nina the glass of wine and took her empty one, he gave it to a passing waiter before he spoke to her. "You want to get out of here, have a private celebration?" He whispered into her ear.  
  
"God, yes." She replied. She didn't say much else all night.  
  
And now William was making breakfast in his kitchen, pouring out a kettle worth of tea and recalling that there was a jewelers on the corner opposite Starbucks and another in the main road, next door to the tailors. The bacon was cooked, and breakfast was largely ready. He placed the teapot onto the tray, grabbing some utensils from the drawer and then headed off down the corridor, back to the bedroom.  
  
He caught a glimpse of himself carrying the tray in the mirror as he headed the bathroom, but he didn't take much stock, except to note that there weren't any oddly shaped peaks of hair on his head. William had short brown hair that was prone to choosing its own direction, especially in the morning when his head had spent a longtime up against the headboard and the pillows the night before. His green eyes were a little sleepy, but he'd woken up since he'd started cooking breakfast. Will hadn't put on much clothing upon getting out of bed, the only thing he'd pulled on was underwear - just in case somebody appeared at the door. He'd put on last nights in case he'd woken up Nina by trying to open his grumpy underwear drawer.  
  
William didn't have any real fusses about his body. He wasn't a fast food fan, and for his habits, it wasn't fast enough anyway, it was much easier to get a sandwich off of Marta, the young woman who carried a tray around his building. Will usually managed an hour in the gym in the basement of his office before work - enough time to run 3 miles and do as many bench- presses and rows as he could be bothered to do, if his mind wasn't plagued by a particular case or office politics. As a consequence of this habit he had a muscular body, but not enough body fat, and a dependence on vitamin tablets.  
  
Nina was still curled up in bed when he pushed open the bedroom door with his elbow. She was impossibly wound up in the bed sheets. The white cotton was wrapped around her body, her leg hooked on top of the covers, her body curved around a 'Will' shaped dent in the mattress. Her long dark hair looked stark against the covers, and her ankle and neck twinkled where she wore tiny strips of gold metal. Her tiny toenails were painted a deep green colour that had William repress a laugh as he rounded the bed and sought a suitable position to place the tray on his bedside table.  
  
She wasn't usually easy to wake after a night of passion and drink, and so he dug through the covers, removing white sheets from her arms and torso in an effort to pull her to his side. Nina eventually gave up her grip on the thick duvet and nestled herself against his leg, resting an arm on his thigh as her head laid on the very edge of the pillow.  
  
William sighed, at this rate the food would be cold by the time he woke her. He pursed his lips, and then closed his fingers around her nose, covering her nostrils from air.  
  
Nina woke up with a cough, instantly sitting up, she rubbed her nose and then gave William a heavy-handed swat on his chest to show her annoyance. "Oi." She grumbled, falling quickly back into the bedclothes.  
  
"Wake up." Will poked at her shoulder blade. She opened her eyes quickly, she didn't bother to stifle or cover her loud yawn, and bent her legs under the covers. "Sit up, I made breakfast." Will ordered.  
  
Nina relented, sitting up and nestling herself against the headboard, she dropped her knees back to the bed and Will brought the tray off the table, placing it on top of the covers over her knees and directly onto his. "This looks good." She said, she slid an arm around Will's waist and a finger into the waistband of his boxers, kissing him quickly on the shoulder. "Take these off..." Her finger stretched the waist elastic to illustrate the item, and she withdrew her hand "...and then get back into bed."  
  
He smiled, but climbed out of bed when she picked up the tray and took off his boxer shorts. He clambered back into bed once again when he was naked, and pulled the covers up over his hips so Nina could place the tray back down. She poured herself a cup of tea and dropped a wedge of lemon into it, taking a sip before she lifted herself off the bed enough to kiss him, properly.  
  
Will sighed happily and wound a hand into her hair as she removed hers from his, and pulled his girlfriend up for another kiss. "Good morning." She said to him when he let her go, earning a wide smile and a snort of laughter.  
  
"Good morning." He said back, accepting a knife and fork from her. "We always seem to forget that, don't we?" He noted, cutting into a rasher of bacon and forking it on top of a piece of sausage and egg.  
  
Nina cut into a piece of egg for her second mouthful, she split yolk across the plate and mopped up some of it in her meat before she gave up with containing the spill. "So how does it feel to be a partner?" She queried, elbowing him lightly in the ribs.  
  
"Good, especially as I don't even have to go in today." Will replied, digging in for another mouthful of food. He wondered if Nina was going to go into 'Division' today. "Do you?"  
  
"Later." She responded, finishing off a sausage, and moving onto another.  
  
"Later?" Will queried, trying to keep his tone light, he didn't want her to realise that he was annoyed she was going to go into work at all today.  
  
"Much later." She added, and laughed at his anger. "Hurry up and eat." She told him, increasing her pace much faster than dignified and finishing off a large portion of her side of the plate before he queried her comment. "I know a much better way to pass some time and I want to share it with you."  
  
Will laughed and sliced a sausage in half. Bigger mouthfuls and he'd be finished sooner. 


End file.
